Catechist Background and Preparation
To prepare for this session, read all the readings.
Isaiah 49:14-15
Psalm 62:2-3, 6-7, 8-9
1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Matthew 6:24-34
Spend a few minutes reflecting on what these readings mean for you today. Is there a particular reading that appeals to you? Is there a word or image that engages you?
Read The Word in Liturgy and Catholic Doctrine sections. These give you background on what you will be doing this session. Read over the session outline and make it your own. Check to see what materials you will need for this session.
The Word in Liturgy
The Scripture readings for today’s Sunday liturgy remind us that we can and are to trust in the Lord. We can trust in the Lord because in him alone is our hope, our strength, and our salvation.
The prophet Isaiah reminds God’s Chosen People that God holds them in the palm of his hand. They can rely on his tender care with steadfast trust. Isaiah proclaims that the love of God for his children is even more than that of a mother for the baby in her womb.
In today’s Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus preaches calm assurance in God’s care, his Divine Providence. He assures us that our anxiousness and worrying about tomorrow will not provide for our future. God will provide for the future that is of greatest importance for those who trust in his care.
Catholic Doctrine
God’s Love for Us
On the one hand, God’s awesome attributes of overwhelming power and transcendence cannot be wholly contained by our human categories (CCC 40, 42). Human language lags in describing the indescribable. On the other hand, we can know God (CCC 41). We have been blessed with an experience of God in creation, throughout salvation history, and finally in the earth-shaking revelation: Jesus Christ is Lord and God, sent to save us because God loves us. God’s love has and continues to be experienced through trust in his divine providence. God’s providence is his loving disposition to guide all of creation to perfection, a perfection that comes from a loving relationship.
No matter what particular image we employ to describe God, we can be sure—because it has been revealed to us—that God’s love is faithful. The love of the Almighty is unwavering, and the divine actions are motivated by love for us. Because of love for us, God chooses to enter into a covenant and make us his own (CCC 218). So fully is the love of God shown to us in Jesus that he suffers and dies for us, and after his resurrection sends the Holy Spirit to form the Church that continues his ministry of love. It is not surprising, then, that the metaphors or images in Sacred Scripture that describe this loving God are frequently drawn from marriage and family life. These metaphors include “betrothed,” “spouse,” “father,” and “mother.”
A famous Old Testament use of the image of “mother” to describe the relationship between God and the people is found in Isaiah. The prophet asks the question on behalf of the Lord, “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you” (Isaiah 49:15).
The Old Testament infrequently makes use of the image of God as “Father,” although it is not entirely absent (Exodus 4:22; Deuteronomy 32:6; Jeremiah 3:19; Isaiah 45:9-11, 64:7; Malachi 2:10). When this image appears, it is not that of a domineering power figure, but rather of One who is communicating life to his own. In the New Testament, Jesus refers to God as his “Father” (John 15:9) and taught his disciples to pray to God as to their loving Father (Matthew 6:9; Luke 11:2).
In addition to these metaphors for God’s love, the New Testament contributes the image of a valued and faithful friendship. The shared trust and mutual delight that friends have in each other aptly describe the love of God for us (CCC 374).
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